Retired Social Worker to Receive National Award

For 35 years, social worker Paola Genas-Brown worked beyond her already demanding job obligations and the limitations of social services’ remits, to ensure the safety and protection of children in State care in St. James and Trelawny.

For her contribution, Mrs. Genas-Brown will be conferred with a Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service on National Heroes Day, Monday October 18, during the virtual National Honours and Awards Ceremony.

Her relationship with the child protection and children services sector started in September 1979, when she was employed as a teacher at the Granville Place of Safety for girls in Trelawny.

“I remember on several occasions, I took girls home for weekends and I can attest to the fact that they loved that… and from then, I decided that I wanted to branch off into social work,” the Trelawny native tells JIS News.

After a few years at the facility, her passion for social work emerged and she started her journey in the field after receiving certification from the University of the West Indies Western Jamaica Campus.

“I realised that I had a passion for working with children and, of course, at Granville it was all girls from the ages of seven to 18, and during my time there as a teacher, I realised that these girls needed so much help. They needed somebody to talk to, somebody to share all their problems and the issues that they were having, and so I developed that compassion for them, and I find myself so attached to them,” she recalls.

The retired social worker spent 21 years at Granville Place of Safety, where she acted as head of the facility on numerous occasions.

Her exemplary work ethic over the years did not go unnoticed. In 2000, she was recommended for a transfer to the Blossom Gardens Child Care facility in Montego Bay, St. James, to take up the position of manager.

Mrs. Genas-Brown was skeptical at first then accepted what she describes as the daunting task to work with younger children from birth to seven years.

“I was asked if I could accommodate a transfer to Blossom Gardens Child Care Facility, as the person who was there was retiring. I asked my CEO to give me some time to think about it for to transition from having young ladies to go to a younger age group would be challenging… and after a month I answered in the affirmative… .”

She assumed the position of manager at Blossom Gardens in June 2000 and wasted no time to begin transformative work at the facility.

The social worker tells JIS News that she worked with a dedicated staff to try to replicate a home environment for the children, where they are shown parental love.

“While at Blossom Gardens, I realised that there were several projects that could be undertaken and so I went for those projects that I wanted to do… . I didn’t do it all by myself because I had a very supportive staff at Blossom Gardens,” she notes.

Mrs. Genas-Brown’s commitment to the profession and her passion for children pushed her to forge several partnerships with local and international entities to upgrade the Blossom Gardens facility.

In 2003, she engaged Carnival Cruise Lines for support, and for several years, a team from the cruise ship visited the facility to effect repairs to the building and help cater to the needs of the children.

“Every Wednesday when carnival Cruise Line comes in to Montego Bay, they would send up workers to help in whatever areas we have work to be done. So the week before, they would call and I would say this is what I want to be done – electrical work, plumbing work – and then they would always help… with the kids,” Mrs. Genas-Brown says.

Under her stewardship, a partnership was also forged with Mission Discovery from the United States in 2004, to expand the crammed nursery at the facility and construct a classroom and gym for staff at no cost to the Government.

“When I went to Blossom Gardens, the nursery was a very small room next to the manager’s office. It could accommodate about 10 cribs and I can’t forget when the public health nurse came… and she said to me, ‘Mrs. Brown, this room is very small and we need to have a handwash basin in here’, and other things were pointed out,” she recounts.

“After she left I said to myself, how am I going to do this? And I said, you know what, I need a proposal, and I put this proposal to the Mission Discovery Team that we are in need of a bigger nursery… and for sure, they came on board with me and with their help I was able to complete the nursery,” Mrs. Brown explains.

Another significant milestone during her tenure has been the establishment of a play and learn centre with the help of the Kiwanis Club of Montego Bay.

The journey as a social worker, she says, has brought her immense joy, as she witnessed the transformation of the children under her care, up to the time of her retirement in March 2016.

“I love the social work profession because it has instilled in me love, empathy and compassion, as when the children come in, and you see when the children come in and where you have taken them from to when they are leaving, it gives you that sense of joy…” Mrs. Genas-Brown states.

She says she is happy to be receiving a national award, which is an indication that her hard work and dedication to the child protection and children services sector has not gone unnoticed.

“I feel really elated and I am happy to know that all the work that I have put in, and the others who were behind me, that I am being awarded and applauded for my years of dedicated service, as working with kids you have to have dedication and commitment,” she shares.